Fall 2004/Winter 2005

Volume 34
Numbers 1-2

Engagement, Resistance
and Student Learning

Data Connection: Leaks in the Academic Pipeline for Women

The following data are taken from the UC Family Friendly Edge website: ucfamilyedge.berkeley.edu/leaks.html. UC Family Friendly Edge is an initiative sponsored by the Sloan Foundation that examines and develops "innovative work-family policies" with an eye toward recruiting and retaining top faculty members. Mary Ann Mason, the Dean of the Graduate Division and Angelica Stacy, Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Equity, both of UC-Berkeley serve as the principal investigators for the project. The project is managed by Marc Goulden, a UC-Berkeley researcher, and Carol Hoffman, UC-Berkeley's Work/Life Manager. The following data focus primarily on "Leaks in the Academic Pipeline for Women," but we encourage you to visit their website to learn more about this initiative and their many research projects.

Leaks in the Academic Pipeline for Women

Statistical information shows that at nearly every stage of an academic career--from securing a tenure track position to achieving associate and full professor status--married women (both with and without young children) leak out of the academic pipeline at a disproportionately high rate.

* Preliminary results based on Survival Analysis of the Survey of Doctorate Recipients (a national biennial longitudinal data set funded by the National Science Foundation and others, 1979 to 1995). Percentages take into account disciplinary, age, ethnicity, PhD calendar year, time-to-PhD degree, and National Research Council academic reputation rankings of PhD program effects. For each event (PhD to TT job procurement, or Associate to Full Professor), data is limited to a maximum of 16 years. The waterline is an artistic rendering of the statistical effects of family and gender.

The Pool Problem at UC Berkeley: Ladder Rank Faculty

The first leak occurs before any hiring decision is even made. Though at present nearly half of current Ph.D. recipients are women, applicant data from UC Berkeley confirms that qualified women Ph.D.s are under-applying for ladder-rank positions. This imbalance represents the first in a series points where potentially excellent scholars leak out the academic pipeline.

* Data prepared by Angelica Stacy, Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Equity, UCB. Potential UCB Pool is derived from NCES data on PhD degrees granted in 2000 cut to a selected group of top-ranked graduate institutions and cut to relevant disciplinary fields for UCB.

Work-Family Balance

The second and third points of leakage are at the associate and full professorship stages, where, again, among those married women (both with and without young children) who secured tenure track positions, a disproportionately high number do not advance to the next professional level.

Why is this happening? In their responses to the President's Work and Family Survey active UC ladder-rank faculty frequently cited considerable difficulties in achieving a balance between work and family. These difficulties appear to be especially pressing for women faculty. The data collected in this survey has allowed us to isolate one key reason for the leaks in the academic pipeline: the work-family balance.

("Not applicable" has been excluded and "Partially Accurate" has been grouped with "No")

The Faculty Family Friendly Edge

The Faculty Family Friendly Edge will help UC recruit and retain the best and brightest from the entire pool of potential applicants for ladder-rank positions.

In the next 10 years, UC is projected to hire on average more than 500 new tenure track faculty a year. This coming period of accelerated hiring will set in place the core UC faculty for the coming decades, but will UC be able to attract and retain the best and the brightest scholars?